Political order and corruption in Nueva Galicia: the case of Santiago de Vera, president of the Audiencia of Guadalajara, 1593–1605

Abstract

This article offers a reflection on the political order and corruption in Nueva Galicia through the case of Santiago de Vera, president of the Audiencia of Guadalajara between 1593 and 1605. En order to do this, I present new readings of the available textual sources, such as the visit of Judge Paz de Vallecillo and Vera's own letters to the Council of the Indies. Hence, I analyze the subject, not from the difference between the public and the private – typical of the modern Staten – but from the negotiation between the different instances, especially in terms of maintaining the confidence of the Crown and, in some cases, of the population itself.